GRAND FORKS, N.D. – First-year head coach Matt Kellogg announced today the University of North Dakota’s 2013 soccer schedule, which includes eight home matches among its 19 regular season dates.

The 2013 schedule features a home match against longtime rival North Dakota State on Sept. 11, as well as a pair of games at Purdue’s Boilermaker Challenge Cup to open the season.

“The Big Sky conference is always ultra-competitive, and our non-conference schedule will also challenge our players. I’m very excited to see all of the hard work from the spring and summer pay off,” said Kellogg, who came to UND after guiding Ferris State University for the previous three seasons.

After opening the season against Xavier (Aug. 23) and Akron (Aug. 25) at the Purdue tournament, UND will stay on the road for non-conference matches at Creighton (Aug. 30), Nebraska Omaha (Sept. 1), Western Illinois (Sept. 6) and Iowa State (Sept. 8).

UND will return home to host NDSU (Sept. 11), the first meeting at Bronson Field between the two teams since Oct. 25, 2003. UND will wrap up non-conference play at home against Boise State (Sept. 15) and South Dakota (Sept. 20), followed by a visit to South Dakota State (Sept. 22).

Big Sky Conference action gets underway in late September when UND embarks on a two-match road swing on the west coast, taking on Sacramento State (Sept. 27) and defending Big Sky co-champion Portland State (Sept. 29).

UND kicks off the month of October with home tilts against conference rivals Northern Colorado (Oct. 4), Montana (Oct. 11) and Eastern Washington (Oct. 13). Road trips to Southern Utah (Oct. 18) and Northern Arizona (Oct. 20) and home dates with defending Big Sky co-champion Idaho State (Oct. 25) and Weber State (Oct. 27) conclude the regular season schedule.

The Big Sky Tournament is scheduled Nov. 7-10 and will be hosted by the 2013 regular season conference champion